All images courtesy of English Fantasy Football
Welcome back to coverage of my Fantasy Footie team -- King's Road Club Bangers -- in the English Fantasy Football Premier League. In my last article, I covered the basics of the draft league and our three competitions as well as my starting lineup for my Week 2 matchup (Week 9 of the English Premier League season).
In this article, I'm going to go over the head-to-head results from two weeks ago and also preview my upcoming EFF Week 3 matchup (Week 11 of the EPL season).
Week 2 Review
As you can see from the tight final score at the bottom 41-39, I narrowly escaped defeat with a 2-point win. That being said, things were looking pretty bleak halfway through the late game on Sunday, as Douglas Luiz netted a brace for my opponent and I was facing a double-digit deficit. Luckily, Jarrod Bowen of West Ham got a lucky deflection to break up the Aston Villa clean sheet and Ollie Watkins came to my rescue scoring an emphatic goal with a smart top-corner finish midway through the second half.
Had West Ham not scored a goal to break up Villa's clean sheet, I surely would have lost the contest as my opponent had a midfielder and defender from Villa, while I would have been punished for my decision to start Jose Sa in goal instead of Emi Martinez. Another managerial choice that backfired was to hold onto the injured Awoniyi for my bench instead of fielding a replacement like Cunha on Wolves or even Chris Wood, the forward filling in for Awoniyi on Forest. Cunha netted in his matchup and Wood bagged a brace. Better to lose the battle but win the war.
With my score of 41 points, I remained at the top of the table in the early days, as my total score was slightly better than the only other team to maintain a perfect 2-0 record through two weeks. Upper90 is another one of the original members of the EFF Premier League and someone I know from my early days playing in this competition when I lived in Austin, TX.
Week 3 Preview
My team had the week off for EPL Week 10 since I was not drawn into the preliminary round of our 4-league EFF Cup tournament and I was already qualified for the quarterfinals of the EFF Champions League tournament. That explains why I was a bit quiet about my results last week -- there were none!
But wouldn't you know it, my matchup for EFF Week 3 (EPL Week 11) is none other than the other undefeated team in my division, Upper90, a longtime rival of mine. He certainly had one of the better teams coming out of the draft, so this will be a telling matchup. Here are our two full lineups before getting into who will be named to our starting XI and substitute spots.
As you may have observed, I made two roster moves from the team that won in EFF Week2:
I dropped Awoniyi for Cunha, since Wolves have a soft matchup away to Sheffield United, and ironically my opponent picked Awoniyi up to replace the injured Gabriel Jesus.
I dropped Dominguez from the Forest midfield to add Ait-Nouri in defense for Wolves. Again, Wolves stand a decent shot for a clean sheet against a Sheffield side that struggles for goals, and if he is deployed in his left wingback role then he should also have some looks getting up the wing into the attacking 3rd.
For the second straight matchup, I decided against my preferred 3-4-3 formation since my midfield matchups are a bit poor. Instead, I opted for a 4-3-3 formation. Below is my starting XI and my opponent's tentative lineup. Of course, we can change our personnel up until 15 minutes before the first game on Saturday, but I feel confident to lock it in now.
I'm feeling good about the attack force, especially Cunha who seems to be growing in confidence and his partnership with Korean forward Hwang Hee-Chan. I also think this could be the week that Hojlund finally breaks through for Manchester United to score his first EPL goal.
The midfield though is where I'm feeling a bit shaky. Rodri is a lock to start each week, and Gibbs-White is right there as a strong attacking midfielder for Forest who takes a bunch of their corners and free kicks for added assist opportunities. But beyond those two, my options are not great. Harrison will likely be on the defensive against a strong Brighton side, which does not suit him well, and Bournemouth's midfield stalwart Phillip Billing has a very tough matchup against Manchester City.
Thiago Alcantara still is not fully healthy for Liverpool leaving Enzo Fernandez as a reliable, but not exciting, starter against league-leading Tottenham. I'm hoping that Pochettino's return to coach against his former club in North London will inspire the best from my beloved Chelsea, so I gave Enzo the nod over Harrison who I flexed into a substitute spot.
In defense, Gvardiol, Schar, and van de Ven are all locked into my starting lineup barring injuries. As I explained above, instead of a fourth midfielder, I picked up Ait-Nouri as a fourth defender since he has a good matchup for a clean sheet and will have a decent shot at some attacking opportunities in the wingback spot. Reece James is still not all the way healthy, so Aguerd will be my defensive substitute.
Sticking with the Wolves plus matchup, Jose Sa gets the nod over Emi Martinez in goal. Finally, it pains me to write this, but once again I am selecting Spurs as my club instead of Chelsea.
Looking at my oppoenent's roster, a lot is hinging on the London Derby between West Ham and Brentford, as he has three Bees on his team plus Brentford as his club. If West Ham can keep his midfielders off the scoresheet and Chelsea can clamp down on Son Heung-Min, I feel like we can pull out a win in this crucial top-of-the-table clash.
That's all I got for this week. Thanks for following along with me on my quest to English Fantasy Football greatness this season. If you have any questions about the league, about the scoring, or about how to get involved for next season, give me a shout in the comments section and I'll get you sorted.
Up the Bangers! #carefree ⚽️